US sanctions boost China’s R&D investment and output in some hi-tech fields: Chinese study
- But the cost of innovation also increased significantly in China because of tech bans imposed by the US government
- Researchers examined how US government sanctions affected nearly 1,000 Chinese companies between 2010 and 2020
A team of science policy researchers led by Professor Liu Lanjian, of Changan University in Xian, Shaanxi province, examined how US government sanctions affected nearly 1,000 Chinese hi-tech companies from 2010 to 2020.
The number of patent applications by the Chinese companies rose an average 57.6 per cent as a result of these sanctions, they found.
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“Under the [US] technology control policy, the number of patent applications and R&D funding of hi-tech enterprises has increased significantly [in China],” said Liu and his colleagues in a paper published in the Forum on Science and Technology in China, a peer-reviewed journal run by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology Development in Beijing.
“But the cost of technological innovation has increased significantly as well, making innovative activities more difficult and less efficient,” they said.
The scientific community’s opinions are split on the effects of the US tech bans.
